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Not going to get many good vintages this year out of the wine country. Will need to give the 2017 Woodstocks, Grant Burges and the like a miss me thinks. Stay safe folks and hopefully the next couple of front systems hitting next week can keep clear of the area.
 
Big Cox 88 said:
Not going to get many good vintages this year out of the wine country. Will need to give the 2017 Woodstocks, Grant Burges and the like a miss me thinks. Stay safe folks and hopefully the next couple of front systems hitting next week can keep clear of the area.
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Should be ok, the growing season is only just starting now from memory
 

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kickazz said:
Yes ironically they'd be getting nothing from wind at the moment because it is too windy, the infrastructure would just be shut down to avoid damage
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Hopefully the power will stay on tonight. But when it all clears up it does seem like they need an enquiry why the whole state lost power. Renewables is good but I was reading the ABC and it said that SA shut down its coal power stations and now it relies on Victoria for its base load. Why did SA lose all power for a fault at Port Augusta when Premier Jay Weatherill said there was no damage to the interconnector with Victoria? What will happen if Victoria also closes its coal power stations?

It's a bit concerning when Australian Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren said

"The reality for South Australians is that we're in uncharted waters. There's an increased level of risk that we really haven't seen before anywhere in the world, so it doesn't mean we'll have more blackouts, hopefully if we're smart we can sort out solutions so power supply can be the same as usual, but it's an increased risk".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-28/sa-power-outage-explainer/7886090
 
Big Cox 88 said:
Not going to get many good vintages this year out of the wine country. Will need to give the 2017 Woodstocks, Grant Burges and the like a miss me thinks. Stay safe folks and hopefully the next couple of front systems hitting next week can keep clear of the area.
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Still very early in the season thankfully. Shouldn't pose too much of a problem.
 
sorted said:
Hopefully the power will stay on tonight. But when it all clears up it does seem like they need an enquiry why the whole state lost power. Renewables is good but I was reading the ABC and it said that SA shut down its coal power stations and now it relies on Victoria for its base load. Why did SA lose all power for a fault at Port Augusta when Premier Jay Weatherill said there was no damage to the interconnector with Victoria? What will happen if Victoria also closes its coal power stations?

It's a bit concerning when Australian Energy Council chief executive Matthew Warren said

"The reality for South Australians is that we're in uncharted waters. There's an increased level of risk that we really haven't seen before anywhere in the world, so it doesn't mean we'll have more blackouts, hopefully if we're smart we can sort out solutions so power supply can be the same as usual, but it's an increased risk".

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-28/sa-power-outage-explainer/7886090
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That article was first reaction and it isn't accurate (except for the Premier saying that it would've happened even with Port Augusta). There are three sectors in the power industry, generation -> transmission -> distribution. The fault was in the transmission network so where the power is actually coming from (coal, renewables, whatever) is irrelevant. What seems to have happened is a major power line to Roxby/Prominent Hill (which take up 30%ish of the State's power on their own) went down. That loss of transmission capacity caused other sections of the network to lose frequency, and they had to shut down to protect themselves from damage. This caused the sections connected to them to lose frequency etc so they were eventually all shut down.

There was still plenty of baseload power from Torrens Island, the connector and the still-operating windfarms, but it couldn't get anywhere until the network was restarted, which progressively occurred starting from about 7pm.

The transmission network could be upgraded to reduce the chances of these large failures, but it would increase the frequency of smaller failures.
 
About 6 years ago, the barossa council put in flood wall along the north para river to protect the majority of Nuriootpa from a big flood. Last night those walls saved the town. Water lapping at the top of the wall when the river peaked
 
MarcusP2 said:
That article was first reaction and it isn't accurate (except for the Premier saying that it would've happened even with Port Augusta). There are three sectors in the power industry, generation -> transmission -> distribution. The fault was in the transmission network so where the power is actually coming from (coal, renewables, whatever) is irrelevant. What seems to have happened is a major power line to Roxby/Prominent Hill (which take up 30%ish of the State's power on their own) went down. That loss of transmission capacity caused other sections of the network to lose frequency, and they had to shut down to protect themselves from damage. This caused the sections connected to them to lose frequency etc so they were eventually all shut down.

There was still plenty of baseload power from Torrens Island, the connector and the still-operating windfarms, but it couldn't get anywhere until the network was restarted, which progressively occurred starting from about 7pm.

The transmission network could be upgraded to reduce the chances of these large failures, but it would increase the frequency of smaller failures.
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Where did you get this information? It seems consistent what a further article by the ABC is saying. But it also says

The fragility of South Australia's electricity supply with the rise of renewables is an open secret.

In February, the Australian Energy Market Operator and Electranet — the owner of South Australia's transmission services — released a report into the integration of that state's renewable energy into the grid. It said the system could operate securely and reliably with a high percentage of wind and rooftop photovoltaic generation, as long as one of the following two key factors apply:
  • The Heywood alternating current (AC) interconnector linking SA and Victoria is operational
  • Sufficient synchronous generation is connected and operating in the SA power system
"Overall, the studies highlight the increasing importance of the Heywood Interconnector in the secure and reliable operation of the SA power system," the report said.

It goes on to say, "In the event of a non-credible separation of SA from the remainder of the National Electricity Market, there is an increasing risk that the current Automatic Under Frequency Load Shedding scheme in SA will be unable to maintain SA frequency within the Frequency Operating Standards".

At 3:58pm yesterday there was what the report quaintly describes as a "non-credible event".

"A non-credible contingency event that trips both circuits of the Heywood Interconnector at times when there is high export from SA to Victoria is very unlikely, but would result in a rise in frequency within the SA power system and potentially lead to uncoordinated loss of generation," the report said.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-09-...es-risks-sector's-reputation:-uhlmann/7888290

A statewide blackout hasn't happened since 1964. Surely there must be an inquiry.
 
I don't have any information, just an engineering degree and some industry exposure.

Also that article doesn't say anything meaningful, given:
'It might not be what happened but the report suggests this could have been the cause.

It is important to note that the Australian Energy Market Operator says the damage to the system was so catastrophic that it would have shut down no matter what the energy mix was in South Australia yesterday.'

But it could at least motivate some additional looking at the risks.
 
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